A Small Gray Dot

It finally penetrated my dazed mind that, somehow, I had managed to destroy the wedge. And its destruction on this end meant the rebound had taken out the other end destroying the base of the being we’d seen in the video. It wasn’t nearly enough, but it was something, and it meant the path to our world was gone.

I dropped the sledgehammer. It landed with a crashing thud in the ruins of the machine. Funny how such a low-tech tool had brought down such an ultra-high tech instrument. I hadn’t been able to deploy either of the more sophisticated methods, and I guess I’ll never know if either would’ve worked but in the end, fueled by rage and armed with a sledgehammer I had gotten the job done.

I looked out across the parking lot. Simon was leaning over Lowell, helping him to his feet. A rush of thankfulness hit me that my two friends had survived. When I saw Lowell fall, I thought he was gone. I’d lost sight of Madison as I made my final push to get to the wedge. I looked for her and she was carefully picking her way over bodies, heading in my direction. I sagged with relief and lowered myself down to the seared and blackened floor. I leaned tiredly against the one, still standing, crumbling wall.

I stared up at the Carolina blue sky. It was the first time in seven and a half years the neighborhood had seen anything overhead except a gray haze. The sun cast brilliant beams that played among the wreckage like schoolkids let out for recess.

The last time I shed tears was the day I stood at the backyard graves of Zoni and my parents. I hadn’t been able to cry since. Now, as I looked up at the clear January sky, tears ran down my cheeks leaving a warm trail on my cooling face.

“Tennessee? Are you all right?”

I lowered my gaze to see Madison stepping over the doorless sill and into the burned out building. She still looked good. The last time I’d spotted her she was spinning around like a whirling dervish and demolishing a line of Binqua who probably thought they had an easy mark in her. Their mistake. Those high-heeled boots of hers were lethal weapons. Somehow, she’d managed to get through the fight with only a few spatters and smudges here and there. She maneuvered her way through the rubble and strewn machine parts, and with a concerned expression, she squatted down and took one of my hands in hers. She had lost her hat somewhere and her hair stirred in the chill breeze.

I nodded. I took a gulping breath, raised my eyes back up and pointed to the sky. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

She laid down her gun and settled beside me, putting her arm around my shoulders and pulling me to her chest. She looked up at the sky and smiled.

We both ignored the gruesome remains of Henderson lying several feet away.

“Yes, it is. Now it looks like the sky in the rest of the world.” She turned to me and pulling a handkerchief from the purse she’d managed to hang on to through everything, she began to gently wipe my wet face.

Epilogue

ONE OF THE COPS WHO’D FOUGHT WITH US contacted the uptown police department who sent over medics and ambulances to attend to and transport the wounded, and the unfortunate ones who didn’t make it through the fight. They sent patrol cars to pick up Harlow, Talbert, and Slim – who’d gotten as pissy drunk as I’d thought they would – and arrested them for participating in Morgan’s kidnapping.

As it turned out, the majority of the guards were legit, including the one I’d head-butted. Henderson had fed him the same bullshit lie he’d given Earl and Jim about Morgan being a thief, and he was horrified to learn the truth. Slim and Talbert, determined not to go down alone, told the cops about other humans involved, who were non-guards. Law enforcement apprehended all but two, who had skipped. I, along with Duncan, Lem, and Percy who also survived the fight and eagerly joined me in the search, eventually tracked them down. But, that was later. And is another story.

Oh, and the few Binqua who managed not to get killed, were rounded up by our fighters and hauled away, first by the local police, then by the government. I don’t know what they did with them. Quite a number of people want to see them hang but I doubt if that’ll ever happen. My guess is they’ll be thoroughly interrogated, then they’ll spend the rest of their lives, however long that may be, being poked and prodded in a lab somewhere. I admit I don’t care.

Madison agreed with Dr. Bennett that to ensure she wouldn’t suffer any permanent damage from having ingested the ecstasy, a doctor should check Morgan, so she stayed overnight at the hospital where she was determined to be in satisfactory condition. The staff physician told her not to travel for a few days so Madison brought her back to Dr. Bennett’s house.

They remained there for a week before Madison decided Morgan was recuperated enough to go home to Wilmington. I stayed with them. Dr. Bennett insisted on cooking for us and he turned out to be quite good at it. We all ate well during our stay.